Epilogue
by Good Evening
Summary: At twenty-eight, Zero's body is in terrible decay. Kaname and Yuki do not take it well. When Zero finally accepts his fate and decides to leave, there might be more than one thing holding him back. ZeKa. Mentions of sexual sit.s between adults and minors.
1. Chapter 1

Zero looked out his window dazedly. He was still sore from the last treatment, and shifted so much when he tried to sleep, he figured he might as well stay awake. Every part of him was aging and sore. He'd managed to live to twenty-eight, but retained the outward appearance of a forty year-old. He remembered snippets of conversation between physicians when they'd tried to put him under several times (as a hunter, it was recommended he become immune to poisons and sedation serums.) After hearing them speak, it seemed everything going on inside him was under a much deadlier contract.

He heard the door open quietly, turning his head and catching Yuki's sleeping face in the small cast of light. It must've been three days since she'd last slept. The door closed, and the light disappeared, her face again becoming a silhouette against the hospital wall. He didn't even want to look at who'd entered, let alone speak to him. And, for once in the past few weeks, it seemed Kaname was beyond words as well. Zero slowly changed his view back to that of the window, hearing a rustling of clothing and a small, irritated grunt. A nurse from outside the glass opened the door again and Kaname carried Yuki outside the room. She slept so heavily, her excellent ears didn't even catch the _click_ of the handle when it shut again, when even Zero would have woken in his 'old age'.

He had explicitly refused to speak unless absolutely necessary. His doctors hadn't yet told him to write his will, but a wise man knows when it's his time. His hands shook too much when he attempted to write off his life's work and possessions, so Kaname had routinely come, scribbling their names in his exemplar calligraphy. Yuki would have done it, but she was an inpatient, too. Zero felt a souring mixture of dread and anger when he thought of how he would never get to see her child, but he realised it must have been part of the game. They could all smell the death on him. It covered the entire wing in a Shroud that let no visitor escape his miseries and frustrations. Not only was he going to die, but he was going to die alone. He had no one to miss him. No one that was _his._ He knew he should've married off at some point, but there had always been a few extra things on his list always floating above that horrid little question. It was almost like a constant, pre-midlife-crisis. He never let himself forget it, and neither did Kaname and Yuki.

The woman came every day, adamant to keep him in good spirit, even though the walk up and down the stairs between their floors was getting harder as her condition began to ripen. Her sensitivity to loneliness was sharp, but she was ignorant to his woes. Zero was a proud man, and it showed even in his Spartan style of living. He didn't want to have to chain her down so irresponsibly. The thought of her weeping over his death furthered his bitterness to the world. She was taken. It was written all over her belly and, occasionally, her eyes. It didn't sicken him as much as it had before but, then again, they weren't so close anymore. His dark humour made it a joke that she felt so indebted to him, her husband standing supportively at her side, making sure she didn't overdo anything at such a delicate stage of their lives. He wasn't surprised when the door opened again-that same, creeping quiet-and her light, feminine footsteps were nowhere to be heard. Kaname closed the door and sat down, looking at the same window.

"She ordered me to watch you." He explained simply. Zero smiled blandly, but he couldn't help as his knuckles whitened to conceal his laughter. Kaname was so devoted and dutiful, it was uncanny he wasn't yet dead.

"I don't need to be watched. " And then more silence. What he really wanted was a good, long session at a bar, maybe five hours, lightly. Kaname didn't move, so nothing happened.

He itched his hand, glad they'd taken out the IV unit. They'd probably wheeled it into some other poor sukcer's room. He realised he was hungry (he had a couple of ticks when he wanted something) and leaned to his right to grab a knife from the drawer. Kaname was instantly by the bedside, grabbing the man's wrist with a distrusting gaze. Zero angled his eyes at the apple on the nightstand, and Kaname released him, walking back to his chair. The sickly man did not wish to meet Death with the same deluded admiration and hope so many others succumbed to in Life. Especially not in front of Kaname-desperation wasn't his favourite word. Zero wanted to laugh at everyone's paranoia, almost hoping he would cough so hard he splattered the sheets with blood so as to make them more anxious and worried. He was losing care for this world, and his coming senility was easily showing when he glanced at some of his doctors and nurses and said things even he hadn't known he could put together. He began peeling the apple, watching over his perfect handiwork with the same glazed look as when Yuki had been there. When he was done, he offered some to Kaname, who took it reflexively, looked at it, and smiled through his eyes at the small symbol carved onto it. Zero really must have shipped with the sailors to learn it.

They ate with Silence sitting next to them, each knowing it carefully observed their movements and worked with the Shroud to keep the scene a place of the same Death and Decay happening in Zero's slowly withering frame. When Zero opened his mouth, its lips tightened;

"Yuki told me she's going to wait to see the sex, but you already know, don't you?" They often played games like this in boredom: tests of talent and skill, as well as wit and quickness in response. Kaname answered briefly,

"A girl. She hit me over the head to get me quiet when I was talking to he doctors." Just like their girl. Zero smiled so hard he showed his teeth, a sign Kaname took with a deep, satisfied breath.

"It must be tough knowing you're going to be a father. Have you given a thought to naming her?" Kaname seemed dreamy as Zero for a moment before he spoke again,

"I'm not sure what Yuki's planning, but if she names her 'Sara', I'm going on a rampage." Zero's smile wasn't fading, and Kaname's breathing got a little faster, "You know her plans for you, right?" He said, still twiddling at least half his slice in his hands. Zero popped a bit into his mouth and worked on carving into another,

"I had a feeling, but I'm afraid a dead man doesn't make the best godfather. You should get Takuma to do it." The boy's choice about Shiki and Rido in the end led to a devastating recognition of the hopelessness of his desires. He lived a good life and had enough little girls to keep him happy, but his demeanour had changed drastically then. Shiki had disappeared into his father's arms.

"Her second choice is Cross-"

"But he's in his fifties." Zero finished for him calmly. Kaname finished his piece with a nod, and Zero handed him another one, this time with a few jacked strokes and a sweeping line,

"I'm not partial to the name, '_Daphne_', actually." Zero grinned as the man ate it just like the last, savouring each bite of a fruit that had grown straight from the hunter's brother's body. Zero's single apple tree yielded a fruit that could tempt even the Serpent, but he kept it closed behind his fence in his own small garden, inviting his few friends and past friends for tea and the juicy delicacy.

"You can obviously tell what type she is, already, right?" Kaname bit into his second piece thoughtfully, and replied with a careful,

"I have several thoughts. Her scent is fused with her mother's, as of yet." Zero smiled quite broadly now, and Kaname had to give his heart a strict order to calm itself before they were noticed.

"You truly are in love with her, then." _'If you can't even sniff out the scent of your own child beneath the sunflowers.'_ Kaname's automatic defensiveness caused his throat to tighten, but he knew Zero knew what he was talking about. He ate quietly after that, every so often reaching out again to grab a new slice and therefore a new, tiny message inscribed in the apple's skin. Slowly, as Kaname counted them out, he noted new words of blessing, eating them soundlessly in acceptance of Zero's small prayers for strength and cleverness. Silence grinned fantastically in the darkness as their conversation lessened from the mechanical stage of speaking, and the room was permeated with his sweet, toneless voice. Until Kaname started up, watching Zero carve another small phrase upon the apple's surface.

"Are you trying to make me like you before you die?" The brunette broke out with a small smile as Zero hoarded the last message from his impeccable eyesight. He listened to the scratches and watched the angles of Zero's quick, determined hands as he carved up the small masterpiece. Zero's smile had not faded in those minutes of quiet, and Kaname's words were double-edged, causing the line of the sickly man's lips to lengthen and open to reveal teeth that still gleamed with youth.

"I doubt either of us could learn how to 'like each other' before I go under for the last time." His hatred for the sedations and sleep medicines he was forced to take intensified the frustration in his voice, but he remained light about his plight.

Kaname really looked at Zero then, at the tired eyes and their descending crows' feet. At the silver hair speckled with hundreds of white streaks and the shrivelled skin of the man's hands. Zero was aging faster than the speed limit, and Kaname could only wish what little time Yuki had left with him could be filled with the same happiness as school. Zero finished his small inscriptions, and then did something that made Kaname's eyes widen just a little, and then much more.

Zero kissed the slice two times. Then, with the knife, poked his finger and spilt one drop on it, kissed it once more, and held it out to Kaname with the four fingers of his right hand. He had to lean at quite an angle to get it that far in his stiffness, so Kaname made an effort to stand. He plucked the slice slowly, watching Zero quizzically. His heartbeat skyrocketed and Zero's eyelids slid down a bit in a gentle, encouraging look. Kaname read over the message and beautiful signature, smeared as they were with a redness that remained thick even with age and medication. He stared stupidly at it, and a blankness crossed him when he consumed it whole. Zero looked away, then. Kaname shivered when he felt it slide liquidly down his throat. They zoned for some seconds before Zero piped up,

"I learned that a few years ago, when Yuki gave me a portfolio of bridal offerings. I figured if she was starting to want to hook up friends, it was getting pretty close to the time when she'd become a real mother."

"Women can be easy to read, in situations like that." Kaname commented with a wistful smile. Zero almost glared at the wall, the smile still plastered on his face. He started chuckling when he remembered how mercurial she had been before the pregnancy, as if she were going through every stag of hate, love, and depression before the entire thing even began. She'd swiped the booklet of proposals with claws out when he simply smiled and offered her some fruit. Almost sliced him open, and certainly ruined his shirt, but Zero had refused to approach the subject. Kaname was startled by the sudden raise in the general mood, then shared Zero's peaceful smile as he gazed at the other male.

"I can't remember that last time we talked so easily,"

"August fifth, four years ago. Yuki had that party arranged at the beach. Everybody got drunk and started showing off birthmarks." Zero's eyes held his taunt well, and Kaname consciously rubbed the small, nearly un-noticeable patch of silvered skin on his hip. His skin was so white it was almost impossible to see the thing, but it glowed like an ember in firelight. The group had quieted when Zero-after much nagging from Yuki's part-rolled up his shorts to the inside of his thigh and a small, sweeping line of angry pink flesh appeared. It seemed to be the last spiteful tether to his brother, who he explained had had the same mark, in the same place. Mentioning the dead twin was taboo even to drunks, but when Zero managed to break the mood by staring down Kaname, the brunette sighed and pulled down his own shorts a few inches, turning the strange fix upon the fire, by which it glowed with a ruthless light that Zero now contemplated.

"How'd you come by it, Johnny Tremain?" Kaname snorted, relaxing into the dismal environment with their illuminating memories,

"My father said it proves I'm a true royal. Everybody at the party said it was shiny and"

"And made you dance." Zero finished for him. Any normal man would have blushed in remembrance of the moment, but it had all been in good fun. The interesting part was why they were finishing each other's sentences.

Yes, he'd done a drunken sexy dance in front of a bonfire and a collection of other drunken people. The group refused him his partner, arguing it would hinder the path of light, and Yuki urged him to go solo. Zero had watched him idly, snickering when both Aidou and Ruka had snuck up close to get a better look. But the man had started near Zero, and finished his fire-circling dance in that same place. He sat down and they consumed more alcohol than humanly possible, finally collapsing into the sand in a heap of naked limbs that resembled on orgy. Their faces had been so close together, Aidou, even in his stupor, had managed to pick up on their drunken motive when they all woke groggily. The blonde had kept silent since then, and did not offer even his cousin this delicate piece of information. Now, the brunette and silver-haired men sat comfortably near each other, reminiscing before Zero was too far gone to do so.

Zero looked at Kaname, and the chocolate-eyed man caught the gaze. The initiator asked no question, but Kaname waited patiently for an explanation. Those silver eyes had lost much of the haunted sadness that had consumed the fellow, but as it deadened further, Kaname saw the small flash that crossed them as Zero leaned a little into the incoming light, pulling the blankets off his tired legs. He stood with help, steady as a rock as he knelt before Kaname, their heads nearly on the same level in Kaname's uncharacteristic slouch.

They had not give up their mutual gaze, and Zero's hand reached up to brush some of the man's growing hair from his face, his other resting on a side chair. He smiled genuinely, his eyes red from little sleep and their colour ever-so slightly hazy and bluish with age and bad veins. Kaname's blood had saved him, the few times he drank it, but it had destroyed him in he long run, mutilating his circulatory system and messing with the marrow until he could no longer supply enough blood for even treading the stairs in his house. His anaemia ascended, however, and took him nearly to fainting spells. The scents of wars, death, flowers, and sand came from old memories Kaname had saved, and impregnated the scene with a sense of hopeless acceptance.

"For some reason, I feel I should start confessing things," Zero said absentmindedly as he stroked Kaname's cheek. The taller sat stiff in his chair, watching Zero without the distaste of years before.

"I'm certainly no priest, but I'll listen." Kaname said in a hush. Zero's thumb stopped as it swept just under a piece of the man's hair, high on his cheekbone. Three times, they had met and 'exchanged'. The first two were during the Rido days. The next… the medicine wasn't working by itself.

Zero closed his eyes for a moment and cherished the short-lived peace he felt. Kaname's skin felt warmer than the day he'd been married, and Zero leaned in to touch his lips to the smoothness. Kaname's breath, for reasons unknown to him, grew calmer than it had been when Zero had simply looked at him, and he waited for the man to move to the other cheek, then back to the bed to finish one of his last assurances.

But he didn't do that.

Zero left it at that cheek, and came back so as to look at Kaname, "You lot really aren't going to die, are you?" He asked with wonder. The Death had crawled away from his bluish lips when they touched the ever-youthful man. It was a strange phenomenon, and he leaned in yet again, this time up where his thumb had been, watching as Kaname's eyes closed and his fists uncurled on the chair.

Unhurried, Zero took time, each small kiss lasting several seconds before they separated and he chose another patch. He kissed the man from his chin to his forehead, and then drew back and made to stand. The brunette winced as he heard the acute sound of creaking bones, and urged himself to help the man, but some sort of strange spell kept him where he was sitting, even when the man struggled back into bed with barely enough energy left from the seals to sit up. His blood had dried and evaporated, and now he was left only with his dying will to live, which had never fused with his quaint sense of perseverance, something most people cannot accomplish.

Kaname's face flamed in the shame of having not assisted the dying man, and he refused to make eye contact for a while, even though Zero stared him down like an impatient grandfather. The silvery man finally scoffed and said,

"I'm only twenty-eight. Don't treat me like I'm ninety." Even though his bones were on a fast track to that and beyond. He shifted in bed, getting as comfortable as possible, then asked Kaname, "If you want to go, the nurse is going to come in and give me my sleeping pills any minute, now." True enough, there was a teal streak running the course of the sky. The orange city lights grazed the horizon, each shutting down street by street, and traffic began to grow thicker as people woke and greeted the September morning. Kaname stood and walked over to shut the blinds, and the lock clicked shut as soon as the light faded from the room. They'd been talking to each other warmly for about two hours, with all the pauses for remembering.

Zero eyed him tiredly, his smile long gone since the time he'd had to stand. Kaname's mouth opened, but he didn't speak right away,

"Zero, I think there's something Yuki and I could do to-"

"Oh, I think you've done enough." Zero said, surprising himself at how calmly he'd issued the warning. He wasn't an invalid. No hospital could take away his gun when he knew there were going to be vampires visiting him at one time or another. Kaname seemed slightly stumped, but he was determined to get across Zero's stubbornness.

"I know you don't want to die," Zero shot him the nastiest glare he could, and Kaname stared him straight on,

"I signed off my soul, _**working for you**_. You don't own my _**life**_, and neither does Yuki, for that matter." Kaname began to get angry,

"We are only trying to help,"

"I've had enough of this bullshit," Zero mumbled very much like an old man, "Get your coat and go see if your wife's alright. No doubt she needs you more than I do." Kaname froze by Zero's bedside. Then, suddenly, he punched him. Zero flew out of bed and Kaname looked at the thin smear of red on his wrist, quickly wiping it on one of the towels and sitting on the bed while Zero got up, anger pushing his veins to their limit.

"You have no right to say that." The brunette said seriously. Zero watched him from the ground, then sprang up and tackled him. Kaname didn't fight, but grimaced when Zero's bony form ground into his skin. His hands were like ice and his look was rabid,

"I've been **fighting** with you people about this for more than a dozen goddamned years! I'll be _damned_ if you're going to bring it up again!" When Kaname's hardened eyes showed no apology, Zero fumed and pushed a hand to his chest, drawing quick line with the blood on his fingers and then punching the small insignia. Kaname gasped when he felt it hit him. Zero looked down proudly: the design had turned itself into a pretty gash that now bubbled with blood. His hand dripped with it, and Kaname twisted as Zero's blood mingled first-hand with his own.

"So this is what a dying man feels, eh, Kuran?" Zero said with a wild grin and sunken eyes, "Feels like it's rotting your bones, blood, 'n heart, doesn't it?" Kaname spluttered, unable to cover the oozing wound. It felt like pure poison, and he felt the small amount of Zero's blood worm its decay through his circulatory system. The silver-haired man kept his manic look, but he took his hand to Kaname's wide eyes and kissed the blind man's chest, shortly after getting up and away. The pain faded in pangs, and Kaname looked down to see his perfect skin, fine as he redid his perfect shirt. Zero was leaning against the opposite wall, legs and arms crossed.

"Get out before I put some of those on your feet, you spoiled brat. I don't **ever** want you two to meddle with my Death again, you hear me?" The Shroud beamed proudly in its corner, slowly wrapping its smoky tendrils tightly around the two men, "You may have _known_ Death, but clearly, it's been beaten out of you by your wonderful wife." His chest still hurt. "Now get out, Kuran." His face burned in shame. "**GET OUT**,** KURAN**!" His fists tightened.

He lunged for Zero.

He punched him again.

And again.

And he was punched.

Again.

And again.

And then they were all-out brawling on the floor. Kaname's block on the door with the help of the Shroud and Silence worked magic on the people outside their fight. When the elder saw his opponent struggling to breathe, nose trickling and face bruised, he stopped, breathing hard, bruises healing, eyes still red and wet.

"You have **no** idea, **Kuran**." Zero spat venomously. "I hope you go to meet your **goddamned** uncle in Hell and he **fucks** you** again**, just like you **dream** he does." Kaname was looming over Zero, holding the other's hands against the blue wall while their feet scuffled on the tile. The excitement proved to be a bit much, however, and Zero calmed down more out of exhaustion than anything. They stayed like that, panting on the floor, until Zero stopped and realised Kaname hadn't, and that there were many more reasons to be breathing harshly at the moment.

He groaned at the pain, but smacked Kaname's hand from his face, trying to get a good look at the man. He didn't have enough energy to deal with this level of psycho.

"Get off of me before I bruise more, you rhino." Kaname moved and helped Zero up, soon after walking to the chair and crumpling in it. "Yuki's going to smell that fight on you. You might want to shower before you go." Kaname looked up at him then, and Zero finally got the full, mussed, haven't-slept-well-in-months image the businessman had been hiding for so long. His eyes were moist and his dishevelled hair cast a shadow that almost made him look demonic.

"Zero," He said shakily, "You say nobody understands…" His breathing was heavy, and the moistness in his right eye grew into a tear, "You tell us not to help you, and you fight anyone who hands you a pill…" There were two fine streaks on his cheeks, his eyes shining as Zero listened in mesmerisation, "I don't **care** if you **want** to die, but I'm not going to let it happen, and neither is Yuki." He stood up now, and Zero held his ground with the same pride he had in high school, "If you want to fight, we're welcome to that, but whatever the cost, we're going to keep you alive." _If you're going to give people memories like this, then you should damn well have the ability to take them away, you sick bastard._ Kaname didn't think this, but he took off his shirt and cornered Zero in the bed, crawling on, pinning him down, and focusing on that pale, bloodless face so flushed of colour, it didn't look real. Then he really had done this to him. Kaname had… Zero's fingers found the silvered flesh on his hip, index and middle pointed at it in a warning that those bloodied palms would defend him, if nothing else. They were both quick and, even in Zero's greatly weakened state, he managed to hold ground well under Kaname's crushing strength. The brunette pulled those hands up soon enough, so as to completely disarm the other male. It was then that Zero shot up and caught him in another kiss, biting his lip and letting the viscous blood pour over Kaname's, who sighed sharply, eyes closed, then came very alert when his slack grip allowed his 'enemy' time to make a simple sign, and carve it in with a ruthless, poignant efficiency.

Kaname howled, grabbing his wrist and shooting away. He fell on his back, trying to rip the infected skin as the seal traced scars around his hands. Intricate, beautiful, painful scars. The designs showed Zero's hate for him at the moment, and as the silver-haired man sucked on his stopping lip, he viewed the morning entertainment with a sadism he had maintained since he'd first been introduced to true purebloods.

"You **disgust **me, Kuran." He said in mockery of Kaname's usually cool tone. Kaname fidgeted on the bed, twisting and writhing in pain while his adversary spoke, "All these years, we've wanted each other dead. So long, we've been dedicated. But you…" He leaned in close, eyes closed and peaceful, really taking in the scent of those tears and satisfying himself like he hadn't in years. He opened his eyes again, "You're breaking the rules again." He'd even used Yuki to his benefit. Zero tolerated little, but this offence was unlike any other.

He lightly ran his finger over the twining scars on Kaname's shaking hand, deliberately studying the man's relief beneath the swat, salt, and blood. He removed a seal for the second time that night, also for the second time releasing the man from pain.

"I want you out before I shoot you. My aim's gotten better over the years, so I promise I won't just graze you." Kaname surveyed the other man, still trembling vulnerably from the dissipating pain. The more intense it was, the more it took his mind to recover. Zero was a clever guy: he went straight for the brain. Mental torture was his specialty, and Kaname should have been glad the man hadn't decided to dig around and find something he could use against him.

Zero stood by the door, hand on the knob, waiting for Kaname to get up and get out. "**Kuran**," he said with grinding teeth, "**leave**." Kaname stayed where he was, shirt askew. He wasn't going to leave any time soon.

"Why do you keep telling us to leave you, Zero?" He asked morosely. The Shroud beamed with an eerie, invisible light, and Silence sat smugly in the corner as things quieted down again. "What the Hell do you have against us anymore?!" His fists clenched the sheets, and Zero watched him with broken patience, his smile thin and dull, like that of a corpse's

"You two-your race-and your fucking goddamn uncle are killing me. I pity your child for having a mother and father like you." He walked over to the night table, circling the bed and keeping his predatory eyes on Kaname. "I hate **you**, specifically, though," He gingerly picked up the knife, and slit his wrist. Kaname saw a glutinous, blackish fluid rise from the wound. It dripped to the floor with a sickly slowness, and Zero sat on the bed as a small puddle formed.

"You killed me personally. You own my Death Certificate. I can't hate you enough." His hand reached up to stroke Kaname's cheek with an unreal gentleness, smearing the dark liquid on his face. "However," He leaned in, happy to see that the man was so still, and bit his ear playfully, "I would like to thank you for the fucks. It was nice to have that over you. That healing of yours is a wonderful thing to play with, my eternal virgin." Kaname swatted his hand away and shot for his mouth, But Zero grabbed his hair and pulled him to the bed. The man looked up at him with a type of sadness Zero could understand. It scared him; he didn't want to have to deal with something like this. He didn't want to understand this person, anymore. If Kaname wasn't going to die by himself, then there was only one other way to get out.

"Zero, I won't ever tell you to do something again, but we're not letting you give up, right now." Zero stared at him blankly, then brought his hand back to Kaname's face. His lips grew thin, as if he didn't know what to do. Kaname appeared calm, simply asking him to make a move. When he closed his eyes in thought and trust, it cinched it.

Zero took the knife from the side of the bed, holding it close to his own throat. Kaname's eyes snapped open, and he made to take it away. Zero pressed just the slightest bit, and the hunting-grade edge slit the papery surface of his skin easily, a thick line oozing more quickly than his wrist. He looked down at Kaname with a manic mix of sadness and hatred in his eyes, still stroking his cheek, still perched above him. Kaname watched him in terror,

"Zero, don't y-" Zero's hand covered his mouth and Kaname's voice hung in the air,

"You fucking idiot. Lived this long, and you still don't get it?" The knife pressed ever-closer into his throat, the line growing furiously. He looked tired, as if it were just another chore. "Your uncle should have beaten you harder." And with that, he pulled the knife in and across as hard as he could, the blood unable to staunch in its torrent, and Kaname sprung into action. He flung Zero on the mattress beneath him and immediately went to work wrapping a sheet around Zero's neck. Humans died much more easily than purebloods, but Zero was still a hunter with amazing genes, and he still managed his tired, selfish look,

"Bastard," he croaked as Kaname effectively convinced the blood to stop. Close to fainting from the loss, Zero stared at the ceiling blearily as Kaname panicked. The brunette bit into his wrist, and Zero chuckled, closing his eyes as Kaname desperately sucked and bent down to meet his lips. The sickly man didn't refuse him, and merely waited for his wounds to heal while Kaname went and threw the knife out the window.

-

Zero kept looking at the ceiling for some time, still sloshing some of Kaname's blood around his mouth in boredom. He started smelling the tears a while ago. Swallowing the last bit, he sighed, and tried to get up. Kaname was still by the window, the orange light of the morning pouring in, city lights almost completely put out. Zero stood beside him, leaning on the sill with his chin in his hand, a definite example of how carefree and hard-to-shock he'd gotten since faced with his Death; relaxing in front of a vampire-much less a Kuran pureblood-was simply unheard of in is bloodline. Again, he sighed, looking over at the brunette, who hadn't bothered to conceal himself for once.

"Hey, don't cry in front of a dead man. It makes him feel uneasy." After this encounter, the hopelessness had grown. Zero figured he'd either die, or die painfully, and at Kaname's hands, more than ever. The other man stirred, but didn't comment. Zero watched him with mild irritation,

"If you're going to stay, I don't care anymore, but save your tears for your wife, okay?"

"God, when are you going to stop?" More of a remark than a question, Kaname sniffled and wiped his nose on an initialled handkerchief. Yuki's handiwork, Zero presumed dryly.

"So the stone speaks," Zero leaned out a little further, eyeing the ground, four stories below. At that moment, Kaname's arm shot out and pushed him back into the room, after which he shut the window, had it lock and the blinds drawn. Zero felt more suffocated than ever. His scars were ugly and sore,

"Look," He said as he scratched the back of his head, "I honestly don't care anymore." He opened the blinds a little, just so he could see the sun. The Shroud shrank in fear, and Kaname was still as a statue in a cemetery. Zero turned around and smiled at the back of his head,

"Why don't we go somewhere? The three-four of us, maybe? We can take Yuki back to Paris, or something. Maybe get there in time to see the Noel lights?"

"Why are you being so cheery, now? You just tried to kill yourself." Kaname hadn't looked at him yet, but Zero shrugged anyway,

"I knew it wouldn't happen, you're here anyway. I die when you want me to, with the leash you've got on me-"

"**STOP IT**!!" Kaname shouted, punching the wall and making a large whole in the plaster. Wires mingled with pipes and bits of them stuck in his hand. Zero squinted,

"'Stop' what? Of course you know it-I can't easily die with you here. You can drag it out another year, but I'm always going to be trying." He started laughing exasperatedly, "Of course you don't get it, but won't you just try to understand the inevitability of true mortality? There's nothing you can do to stop it! I'm just going to miss appointment after appointment until Death gets tired and just takes whatever!" Kaname shoved him against the wall and seemed to debate about whether to hit or kiss the man. His desires were at a stalemate.

"Kaname," Zero wheezed, the blow to his tender back having bruised him. "It doesn't matter what you want in this case. The longer this goes on, the more painful it's going to be. I'm going to drag you, your family, and your empire down with me if you keep up about this." Zero had accepted his death that night, sixteen years ago. He'd been prepared to kill himself with Shizuka, or be slaughtered by Rido. But Kaname had stolen each of those moments in succession, and now he'd taken probably the last semi-honourable way Zero could've died. What was he supposed to do now? Bite his tongue, wait for Death to come, and then have Kaname save him and put a bit in his mouth to stop him? By the end of the road, Zero would be strapped down in some institution, with fifteen-minute checks, waiting every day to have some insane suit to waltz in and tell him how wonderful the outside world is.

Kaname probably spent more time thinking about him than his own child.

Zero closed his eyes and went limp. He chuckled when Kaname panicked again and tried to keep him on his feet, and slapped away the shaking hands. The man was such an asshole. "Kaname," he started, wobbling as he made his way back to the bed, "You didn't know the sex, did you?" Kaname started, looking at Zero with that haunted panic still soaking him. Zero smiled, sitting down and keeping his eyes closed, comforted by the thin darkness. "You were just guessing like any other midwife. You were probably relieved when I wrote the name, '_Daphne_', weren't you?"

"Ze-"

"Shut it. You've probably been tuning Yuki out this entire time, am I right?" Kaname looked immensely alarmed and unsettled, reopening his connection with his beloved wife with a horrified gasp. She'd been calling him in the throes of labour for at least an hour.

He rushed for the door, then, running down the hall and leaving Zero in his room, with a knife, without strength, and in the company of three interested individuals.

"Asshole," The old man muttered as a hand reached out to him. He took it like a breath of fresh air.

It was a boy.


	2. Chapter 2

The birth had been fairly difficult. It was nightmarish: Yuki's slim form saturated in sweat, thrashing in pain. Pureblood and even Level B births were uncommonly difficult, and Zero's short reference to Kaname's virgin curse was actually relevant. The event would surely be something to remember, and Kaname doubted Yuki would agree to another pregnancy any time soon. It wasn't as if they didn't have the rest of their lives, but in the whole of about 7,000 years, their grandparents produced about three children. Yes, it was certainly a difficult process.

It had been a boy, just as Zero had decreed. It wasn't embarrassment Kaname had felt at that moment, or even the much-abused notion of guilt. It was pure dread. Zero's attentiveness was chilling, almost as if he wasn't done planning, even on his deathb… perish the thought, but the thought that Zero was hiding something from him was very threatening to him. Over the years, he'd been wary of people with plans; people with schemes and designs on his, or, God forbid, his wife and child's lives. He was a guarded man, unmatched by any other in his senses of protection of loyalty. That someone he was protecting had hidden plans of their own made him question not only himself, but whether or not that individual was a danger. It was a complicated sort of thing.

Yuki had healed immediately after, of course. Her breathing had calmed and she'd fallen unconscious in seconds. Using sedatives at such a delicate point was unethical, especially since she'd specifically emphasised her wish for a 'natural birth'. She would, like her husband, question her own logic as soon as she woke up. In the meantime, Kaname held their child, names flying through his head that they had not agreed on, or even really discussed. He thought of their parents' names, particularly their father's.

"Harue," he said distractedly. The child in his arms squirmed and looked up at him, washed of his mother's blood. The baby stared at a strand of his hair, not yet strong enough to attack it, but eyeing it with a curious hunger. Kaname's eyes were dreamy as he stared into the little face, pale and sweet as his mother's. "Harue would be a good name." The boy's eyes were a strange blue, almost violet. It reminded him of springtime, particularly a small vacation at a cliff of a beach he'd enjoyed exclusively with his wife and Zero. They hadn't been able to see the sun most of the time, but Kaname had one memory that shone like the dawn.

Zero had, as he usually did, escaped from them to privately view the first few minutes of the day. He'd stood at the edge of the cliff in the morning cold, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, slowly becoming illuminated by the creeping sun's rays that managed the clouds. They poured over him, his silver hair and pale skin becoming golden in the rare light. Kaname remembered staring at him from a rock outcropping, leaning on the cold stone as Zero quietly prayed into the wind. He'd heard him fine enough through the wail of the harsh weather, but the words had been lost on him as he stared at the perfect contrasts. Zero had been twenty-six, almost peaking in his physical ability. That had been one of the last trips before the man's final decline, after which he had been confined to his house, which he was fine with, and then some sort of bed or chair, which he was fine with, and then the hospital.

After his rush to Yuki's ward, Kaname had made sure to keep a track on Zero in the back of his mind. He could tell how fast the man was breathing at the moment, if asked. And, as a matter of fact, Zero was not breathing very fast at all. When 'Harue' had finally been washed up and Yuki had fallen asleep, Kaname realised he had blocked the track. He thought of the nasty look in Zero's eyes, and his pleas for death and release from his 'keeper'. A man like Kaname had no time to display the sadness he felt in front of his family, but it was reflected with poignant clarity in even his son's bluebottle eyes, and he couldn't keep down the short choke from shock as he finally allowed the block to break, and the quiet sense of death flooded him. It would later be explained that Zero's blood had become so incredibly viscous that his heart simply couldn't pump it through, and had stopped accordingly. He had died in his sleep, his dreams fading to nothing as his brain lacked the oxygen to produce them. It would be lost on Kaname, almost more than his newborn son, whose eyes seemed to glisten with a wisdom that Kaname doubted he would ever earn. And so blue; so deep and teasing, already withholding secrets even his father couldn't fathom. They absorbed him and his sadness, and no matter what his protestations or true emotions were, he could not dissuade himself from giving in to their strange comfort.

This little boy—this little body, more fragile and delicate than the porcelain cherub he seemed to be—held secrets known and shared only by one and two men. Together, now, Kaname distantly imagined them overseeing his child's advancements and growth. Those violet eyes, so careful in revealing exactly what needed to be seen. Kaname regarded their almost certain fade to brown with disbelief: something like this was so much more relevant to life. Maybe this forthright understanding was something that would fade when the child learned his kind and his duties. If they were really to be gone in such a way, Kaname didn't think he could take it.

A short ray of light peered in from the window overlooking the nurses' station. Having studied up a bit, as well as knowing from experience, he instantaneously snuffed it with the curtain, keeping the poisonous curse from his newborn son's tender skin and knowing eyes. A small tuft of light young hair glowed briefly as the curtain fluttered, and Kaname swore the fluorescent lighting was that early sun, for the hair had shone against the pale skin luminously, like sun and moon. It was that day, and memories of Zero, knowing that he had purposely snuffed Zero's own energy for his own gain in the long run, that finally tore him down, and he allowed his son, in the first few hours of his life, the extraordinary sight of a grown pureblood's tears. Harue did not take it lightly, and gave his father the final push with that gentle gaze. Kaname's emotional block was blasted through cleanly and with immense precision, and his tears fell down his cheeks as he turned his head up and held his son close to his chest. He leaned against the back of his chair and the sill, long neck grandly exposed as he tried to stretch and stress the flesh, so the pain of the suppressed sobs would force themselves to stop.

He choked a couple more times, tears running down his cheeks and catching on his hair, sliding back and pooling in his ears and on the '_daybreak_' vinyl of the sill. His son went back to staring at rogue locks of hair, allowing his father some sense of privacy as he backed down in his campaign. Kaname had no illusions that his son would be something most of the vampire world had never known, much like his sister and himself, and of course, their deceased friend.

Yuki stirred in her sleep, and the baby immediately looked over at his mother, wonder in his eyes. Kaname cleaned himself up quickly, wiping his face with a handkerchief and stuffing it in his pocket as quickly and carefully as possible, so as not to disturb his sleeping wife and not-crying child. He stood up then, crossing to the small cart that served as a newborn's bed, and laid Harue upon it, making sure the little boy was safely swaddled. He left the room as silently as he could, but he still heard Yuki groan and begin to wake up. Would seeing Zero really be more important than his first few moments with his family?

He didn't stop walking, and felt awful for it.

As he ascended the stairs, the scent of death became more apparent, and he found himself becoming angrier and angrier. When he opened the door to the floor, it assailed and choked him. He crumbled against the wall, Feeling Zero's desolation and misery as it lingered in the hallway. All he needed was one thing to latch on to; one shred of hope. He remembered what Zero had chastely told him early on in the sickness,

"_Dead men don't hope for anything but to be alone. They just wait. Mortality isn't as romantic as so many poets make it out to be…"_ His tone had been dry at the time, cranky from having been disturbed by a nurse. Kaname felt overpowered by nostalgia and, of course, the anger and impatience that had boiled in Zero since he'd been denied the right to kill his sire. Kaname should have known at the time that that single moment would bind them tighter than what they'd do when they were sure all the Night Class was gone. The scents of sex and degradation were distinct and very potent, and also very attractive to people so powerful.

Kaname gathered himself and pried the door open, having allowed it to crack on his foot. As he made it down the hall, the feelings themselves didn't become stronger, but the same Shroud that had enwrapped Zero glared from the corner as its kin began stretching its cocoon around Kaname. His steps grew halting, then very quick and desperate. The Shroud sneered and moved back down where Kaname had come. His specialty was anger and extremity, not the regret and loneliness he felt coming off Kaname in waves. They made his body tingle pleasantly, and he thought to call on another of their kin to infect the wife with the doubt he'd felt growing in her heart since she's first discovered she was pregnant. And purebloods lived damn-near forever, so they'd be busy for a while.

-

Kaname shut the door quietly, having a hard time seeing the room. An orderly had come in after he'd left, opening the blinds and effectively blinding Kaname. He crossed quickly, making a point of not looking at the bed. Zero wasn't there, anyway.

"_What __**are**__ you doing?_" Sounded a voice from a shadowed corner. Kaname let the blinds drop, still not turning around. The cold chill was biting, and he felt like screaming, the mortality trapped him so. Zero lingered in the corner, papery skin revealing every bluish vain in his body, heavy sacs under his eyes. The whites were growing yellow.

"You know, pureblood blood is so terribly interesting…" He inspected his nails in boredom as Kaname's fingertips dug in to the vinyl of the sill roughly, shaving off small streaks of blue. He heard Zero drop his hand to the armrest. He felt him looking at him.

"You really are going to try and keep me forever, aren't you?" Zero's tongue was dry, and his blood felt foreign and bulgy in his veins. Other than that, he just couldn't _feel_. It was a very strange sensation, touching without feeling. He drily connected that to his relationship to the man across the room. Who, he might add, looked very nice with those little streaks of sunlight creeping through rogue strands of his hair. He looked radiant, even though Zero could sense the tiredness and fear flooding the room while the grey-haired corpse, himself, was rather deadened.

"…" Kaname tried to start, but his voice felt awkward, like he was thirteen again, "… It was never my intention to do this to you," Zero's fist hit the arm rest hard, and Kaname winced, feeling the urge to rush to the man's side and inspect.

"I don't think you quite understand the severity of the issue, _Mr. Kuran_," He rose, bones creaking in a way that made Kaname's stomach clench and curdle. He stood behind the man and, like a ghoul, leaned in and conveyed what had happened to him in the last hour and a half,

"I died, Kaname," he bit the man's ear with a cold, foul-smelling mouth. Kaname flinched and gooseflesh crept up his neck, "I met Death-very nice, a little on the skinny side, though-and it showed me exactly what is going to happen after I die, as per my request. You can't imagine how shocked I was to see myself still crawling, hands and knees behind you, through the picture." His bluish hands crept up Kaname's shirt, and he admired, as he had in life, the overcoming youth of the body. It made him shiver with delight, strength creeping back into him. "I've seen very much, thanks to it." Kaname shuddered.

"You see, I'm not a ghost, Kaname." One hand crept up higher and bony fingers splayed over Kaname's chest, another one dipping indifferently under his belt. "I'm not a zombie," the hand on Kaname's chest suddenly gripped his throat tightly, the other fisting with a shocking cool the brunette's quickly shrivelling erection. "But I am most certainly dead. There is a very large problem with this situation." Zero dropped the man apathetically and Kaname stumbled for a moment from the shock. Even lacking pulse and passion, (as well as a normal core temperature) the man could still work him to hardness at the smallest whim or wish to see him begging. They did '_it_' less than you'd think; Zero was the type who liked to watch him squirm.

"So," the corpse said cheerily, "what do you plan to do to resolve this little problem of ours?" He ruffled his hair with one hand, rubbing against a raw wound interestedly, poking and probing it with the curiosity of a child. He'd never been able to do something like this before. He figured he could tear out his cerebral cord and it wouldn't have any affect on him. Kaname whipped around and tore his hand away. Zero stood, slightly angled, peering into Kaname's eyes questioningly,

"It's not like I'm going to bleed to death?" Kaname looked uncomfortable, turning Zero's wrist over and getting a good look at the post-mortum bruises the man had inflicted on himself. Zero stared interestedly at him, "You can't sense me, can you?" He said curiously, Kaname looked a little taken aback, not yet dropping the wrist, but leaning back to a more normal stance. Zero straightened himself, a sickening _crack_ forcing the other to wince. Kaname looked downright nauseous,

"No. I can't." He dropped the wrist to Zero's side, hand lingering unsurely. Zero leaned in a bit, continuing to stare at him, a rare look of curiosity and dreaminess blessing his face. Kaname had only seen it when the man was reading, or when once-warm hands roamed his body after a round.

"You know, you don't really appreciate things until you realise how deeply engrossed in shit you are." It sounded conversational, but more like Zero was talking to himself. As he stared at Kaname's eyes, Kaname had had no choice but to stare back. The yellowness disgusted him, and he turned away, sitting on the bed dizzily. Zero reverted to his embittered, sarcastic face, and flopped down beside him, lying with his arms behind his head.

Kaname's hand brushed his hair back, and Zero reached up, playing with a strand with none of the innocence Kaname's son had possessed. Hesitantly, he laid himself down beside the other man, staring up at the ceiling with a hand on his chest, the other draped carelessly above his head.

"I've studied cases like this before." Kaname's ears perked, and he faced the man's yellowed teeth and sallow eyes. The pale stomach jiggled unnaturally whenever he moved, as if everything had been scrambled. "You can truly keep me moving as long as you want. All you have to do is force-feed me." He smiled jokingly, but it looked maniacal and accusing. Kaname's shame crept into his cheeks and eyes, and Zero nestled his head back into his arms, "Technically speaking, I could be here forever," Kaname closed his eyes, listening to the gruff croaks of a dead man's voice. Zero's hand started playing with his hair again, but Kaname jolted out of nature. Not being able to sense someone was very disturbing. Not being able to sense Zero was causing that cocoon to tighten unpleasantly, and he felt choked beneath its weight.

Zero looked at him calmly, "You know I'm not really here, right?" Kaname opened his eyes and looked over at the inquiring man, who seemed to be playing with his hair automatically, as he would before they'd go to sleep together those summery years ago. "After Death left, it was strange. I can't feel, can't breath, my heart doesn't beat… it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting." Death lingered in the room, poisoning Kaname's flesh with a cold chill that made him press into Zero. It was a very rude awakening to feel himself only get colder. Zero looked down at Kaname, who had laid his head on his chest. The brunette was clenching the thin hospital gown, shifting and trying to get comfortable on the bony rib cage. Zero sighed and looked upon him with pity, drawing his arms around hunched shoulders,

"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't cry in front of a dead man—it makes him feel uneasy." Kaname shuddered at how much more sinister and disturbing the phrase was, now that it applied to Zero physically. The man held him tightly, and Kaname refused to let go of the white fabric. Death had seen this before, but it seemed very different with the current players. It was curious, how restrained they were to each other, though they could never follow each other. It knew Zero knew it was still there. It was interested in seeing what Kaname would do, because purebloods certainly did have very rich choices. It just hoped this wouldn't end like others had. The Shizuka woman had been smart.

Zero stroked Kaname's hair calmly, having chastised him enough for one morning. The man wept into his chest, and the tears felt awkward on his cold body. They seeped through the fabric easily, reaching his skin, each a small zap of the same strength touching Kaname's skin gave him. It almost hurt, but even when he had dug into the back of his skull earlier, he hadn't felt any pain. From this, he gathered an idea of what artificial life would mean for him if he allowed Kaname to have his way.

"Hey," he said quietly. Kaname tried to stop for a moment, holding his breath in short bouts to control small sobs, "why don't you let me see the baby?" Kaname just about stopped crying, wiping it all on his sleeve and getting up. Zero looked at him, not having moved. The brunette seemed disturbed, but faced him with a bright look in his eyes,

"Yes. Let's." Death came through the door with them, abandoning the room to Silence, who crossed his arms and legs with satisfaction; Death had such a noisy presence, it was hard to get anything done.

-

Kaname led Zero into his wife and son's room. Yuki had fallen asleep again, the baby soundly breathing beside her. Zero looked upon Yuki's tired, peaceful face with a mimic of it, his own much older, and much more tired than any level she could attain. When he saw the baby, he stopped in his tracks, staring at it in amazement. Yuki's baby. Kaname's baby. There was nothing in the world he could loathe more contemptuously or love more dearly. He walked up to the little table, keeping his distance and reek of decay as far from the newborn as possible, but still trying to get a good look in. Kaname rejoiced in the smile that spread across the man's lips. He looked beautiful, circumstances aside.

"You may hold him, if you'd like." Kaname felt anxious, wanting the situation to feel as normal as possible, clinging to any delusion that it was more savagely than any beast. Death looked at Zero curiously, to see what he would do. The man seemed to understand,

"I think I'd better not. I wouldn't want to shock him awake. He looks so peaceful, just like his mother…" He was incredible. Pale, pale skin, with a tuft of light hair that surprised Zero greatly. Yuki had not been blonde as a child, and he was sure Kaname hadn't, either. It was very strange. Death watched Kaname's anxiety warily: the man reeked of desperation and need. His loneliness infected even the spirit, and its bones rattled as the tendrils of insanity reached out to brush them. It could see the cocoon; the man was almost irreversibly ensnared.

Kaname walked over to the baby, watching him sleep with proud eyes still shining with a crazed light, "I thought to name him 'Harue'. I'm not sure what Yuki will think, though." Zero continued to stare at the child,

"I think it'll be a fine name." It was like watching a dog wag his tail for his master. Kaname glowed whenever Zero spoke, the urge to grow some sort of new, strange connection over the dead one making him seem wild, and the baby stirred appropriately.

"Oh! You have to see his eyes!" Kaname gently lifted the child from its bed and it grunted and gurgled as it woke. His eyes opened to reveal a shocking shade of violet-blue, and Zero began to understand a little more as Death kept his distance from the bright, innocent boy. The grey-haired man felt the inquiring gaze upon him.

Harue looked at Zero curiously, then reached out to touch his hair, which shone in the lone light that came from the long whitish lamp above the bed. Zero took a step back, and the baby gurgled at the game he felt they were playing, reaching out harder, but unable to lift his new arms high enough. Kaname frowned, walking toward Zero,

"He just wants to play with your hair. Go on, it feels strange, such tiny hands doing it." The baby could not ignore the dark emotions welled in his father, but so intense was his enthusiasm for the game, that he reached harder and harder, urging Zero to step forth and allow him to touch the silky mane. His presence was unlike any other, and the baby understood that it was also probably not something he would ever experience again.

Kaname pressed closer, but Zero put his hands up, motioning him to stop for a moment. He walked around them, reaching to touch Kaname's shoulder. The coolness pulled a gasp from the man, and he felt the unpleasant feelings of death and decay, intensified by Zero's current state.

"I can't touch him. I'm sorry." The mournfulness in his voice was something the Shroud would have felt proud of, but hearing that from Zero would make anyone feel weird. Even Death shifted in his presence. But Kaname spun around, persistent,

"You have to do it just once. He's your godson! I can't let you leave until you hold him. Please." Zero looked at Harue, who's focus and innocent intent were quite clear. Kaname held him out, urging Zero to take to squealing bundle. The man stood silently for a moment, then quietly said,

"I'll say goodbye to him. I just want to talk to Yuki first." Kaname looked relieve, but his paranoia doubled with the anticipation. Zero could see he wasn't far from a breakdown, and casually ordered him to tuck the boy in and send him to sleep. Then, they woke up Yuki.

She turned on her side and groaned, Kaname speaking softly to her. She opened her eyes when he said Zero was here. She looked puzzled, not sensing him in the slightest. When she opened her eyes a little more, they went wide, and her hands flew to her mouth. She whispered through her fingers,

"Zero? What's wrong? What going o-" She took a hard look at him, and felt bile rise in her throat, tears on the edges of her eyelashes. Zero looked away, almost with the embarrassment of a high school boy getting caught looking in the girls' shower room. It felt like something he really, really wasn't supposed to see.

"Oh, God, oh, God-How?! How did you-did it-ha-" Kaname explained it to her quietly, sitting on the bed. She stared at him in disbelief, hands still covering a good portion of her gorgeous face, tears still creeping and pooling over them. "Oh my God," she said. Zero walked to her with the awkward smile he'd had as a teenager, but rarely ever showed. The memory of his youth encased him, and that smile made him seem all the more unreal. Almost like a ghost.

"Is-is there anything you w-want?" She asked pitifully, sobbing as Kaname held her. Zero hesitantly reached out to place his hand on her back. He decided against it. He wanted her to remember the best of him, not the corpse he now was. Harue squirmed in his bed, whining and obviously on the verge of crying. Kaname tended to him. While Yuki and Zero had their final moments.

They recalled everything from trips around the world, to tripping in the schoolyard and toppling books, to tripping in little rooms in dark alleys that Yuki had been certain she never would have visited without him, or mementos her mother left behind. They reminisced about their childhoods, about arguments with Ichiru and growing up without real parents and, of course, 'Mama's interesting "My Style" cooking while Kaname stood idly near the bed, cradling his child without focusing on the boy. Zero was his world at the moment, and blue-violet filtered into a purplish, hazy grey. Nobody but Death noticed.

After about a half hour, Zero grew a little skittish, and Kaname watched him worriedly. Yuki grasped his hand and stared at him intently, until tears began pouring in torrents over her eyelashes and she had to let go of him to make it stop. Kaname handed the baby to her, and she held it closely. The eldest walked over to his friend and captive, the worry in his eyes apparent and on edge.

"… I think it's time I said goodbye." Yuki nodded, Harue still watching him curiously. Kaname looked like he was boiling after Zero said it, and Death watched him sadly. His vexation made the Cocoon swirl and bind, leaving almost none of his original form to be seen. He looked like a blackish plume of smoke, small, brown bracken-like arms weaving around him hungrily. Almost nothing remained but his desire to keep Zero. Even his newborn son became a threat.

"You can't leave yet!" Kaname hissed as Zero neared the door. His aura was vicious, and the baby began to whine again. Yuki cuddled him and hid those blue eyes from the two men. It was like they were sixteen again, sparks flying and truces called off. Zero seemed frozen as he contemplated breezing right past the man. Kaname nearly dared him to. The corpse reached for the door knob, hand suddenly snapping up and back to his side. Kaname was controlling his body. He looked over at the man; Death almost turned away.

Kaname stood, stunned and shaken, not yet having let go of his control over Zero's body. The grey eyes that had turned on him had clouded in the warm room, and he felt the strange sensations Zero was forced to endure as he tried wildly to re-establish their connection. His body grew colder, His bones feeling awkwardly-placed in the coat of his muscles and skin. The proud blood in his veins seemed to shrivel and dry, his mouth becoming sandy and his throat parched. It hurt to breathe, and he was always getting colder. Zero didn't have to breathe. Zero was dead; Kaname wasn't

Death didn't want to see this part; where the lesson was taught and the pureblood was sent away with his tail between his legs. Shizuka had fought cleverly until the end. The Kuran fellow was killing himself, or rather, allowing himself to be killed. Even the Cocoon shrank in fear of the pain. Parts of it dissipated, and through the self-pity and hatred, Death could see the pure mournfulness swirling mindlessly beneath it like a silver-lined cloud.

Zero waited for Kaname to release him. He had no real idea of what it must be like to rule dead flesh like this, especially when one was used to their target having a pulse. Kaname let him go, leaning on the wall as inconspicuously as possible, temperature slowly rising to its normal state, breathing forced from shallowness to deep sighs. Zero fought the pity he felt for the man, grabbing his hand and the knob, and dragging both of their bodies into the hall. He smiled at Yuki, blowing a kiss at her and winking at the baby as the door closed. The blinds were already drawn, so Yuki could only watch the short shadows under the door, listening to the hurried footsteps as her dearest friend and husband walked away. She clutched the swaddling cloth with aching fingertips and wet arms. Harue kept his eyes on the door, waiting for the man with the pretty eyes and strange, little aura. Death smiled courteously, and the baby smiled back, cheering up as the figure receded from the room. Harue would very likely be something neither his parents nor the waking world had seen. So like the Kurans.

-

Kaname paused every few steps, eyes ahead of him, but somehow always looking away from the man leading him. Finally, Zero got tired of it and rounded on him,

"_What the _**Hell**_ do you think you're doing, _**Kuran**?!" Kaname stared at him now, both of their lips creased tightly. Zero's grip on his shirt made the stench of death all too close. Kaname pushed him off, stepping back and breaking eye contact, looking like a spoilt child.

"I thought we had agreed you wouldn't do this." Zero looked at him with disbelief, running his hands through his hair to try and strangle the anger coiling in his fists. Kaname's eyes were livid, but Zero's shone with something the man would never attain, and would only very late in the game, understand.

"Listen to me, you pureblood son of a bitch—we agreed on no such thing. I was supposed to say my goodbyes, hug and cry, then get my ass out of here and wait to be taken away." Death looked a little affronted; it never took, it _offered_. Zero didn't care much at the moment. Kaname was an uzi ready to fire, and he had a couple of magazines he'd hidden for the occasion. The brunette snapped at him, trying desperately to convince him,

"Can't you see why you have to stay?" Zero had been playing his heartstrings all these years without even the least consideration for the tune he made. In involving the man in his plans, he'd been brought into Zero's web, as well.

Zero's look was cold as his skin, and he either didn't understand, or didn't care. Kaname shivered. "You can't expect me to stay here with you, forever. If someone _wants_ to die," Kaname wouldn't hear it, and instead, shook his head, a disturbing, hopeful look in his eyes,

"Don't you see what this is? We have the chance we thought we'd been denied, all these years. You've even overcome death, Zero! Just think of the years ahead of us—and my son! I'd had all these fears you wouldn't get to meet him!" Zero kept shaking his head as the man spoke. He felt Death grimace behind him. If he didn't wrap it up soon…

"Kaname, I wasn't meant to see your son grow up. Just to meet him is enough for me. You don't need some bloody corpse standing by for emergencies. You have a beautiful family that's just beginning; I can't let you put that as secondary." The brunette's hands tightened and, with a flare of anger, he caught Zero's arm,

"You've _tortured me_, Zero. And now you're trying to just fade from view?" He was manic, "I'll **die** if you leave!" Zero's lips thinned, _That can't be helped,_

Kaname tried to search him for some semblance of pity, but once again, was foiled by the dead connection and invisible aura. Zero truly wasn't there. The silver-haired man appeared slightly sceptical, though the disbelief washed his head of smart retorts. He was completely blank of words.

Then, Kaname held his wrist more tightly, pressing up close and trying to appeal more to the emotions he couldn't place anymore. Zero couldn't be affected by something he didn't care to have. Grunting at the annoyance, Zero pushed him hard, back hitting the wall with a loud _crack_ that dented the plaster. Quickly, the human was on him, pinning him and knowing he wouldn't fight back. Through the hospital gown, Zero could feel his entirely-too-hopeful hardness. He sneered; like a corpse could really provide what the monster wanted.

Without warning, he grabbed Kaname's chin and pulled it harshly forward, making the man stumble slightly between the cold of the wall and the cold of his body. The shock that hit him was worse. Something cold, slimy, and foul entered his mouth, rummaging for the common sense that would make him toss his fantasies aside. Kaname struggled to stay still, but it was like having a large slug worm its way into his mouth, leaving behind a thick, shimmering trail. When Zero let him go from the heatless kiss, he swore his chest constricted at the desolation on Kaname's face. The man looked terrified and shocked; it was one of the worst moments in his life.

Zero felt awkward suddenly, and he stepped away. Kaname crumpled a little against the wall, arousal still evident, but too stunned by the kiss to do anything. Zero watched almost nervously, doubt finding its way into his mind and creating a small cavern in his head. If Kaname didn't collapse, he would. Death looked on grimly as the pureblood's stun forced some rough breaths out of him. Zero hid his face with one of his hands, not bothering to look or be looked at by either of them, even though Kaname was incapacitated and Death didn't like to scrutinize.

"This is so fucked up—you seriously don't see why this can't work?" Kaname's hair stuck to his face in places, but Zero could no longer smell the tears. He just had a vague awareness of the sorrow replacing the life in Kaname's aura.

"You don't know what this will do to me, Zero." He was at half-mast, gripping his coat and his forehead in an attempt to steady himself and stall the raging headache in his temples. Zero's flatline mouth was terse and uncomfortable, and he really felt like leaving. Kaname looked up at him then: some little boy he'd never met, and probably wouldn't have wanted to get along with. Someone who had gained the same sort of painful wisdom he had, in due course. He didn't want this last memory to be so polluted for them. He didn't want to have such morose conversations when they were both finally gone. So, hesitantly, he stepped forward, still unsure of what to do. Then, thinking, _To Hell with it_, he gained empty confidence and reached out to wipe the man's cheeks. Kaname's hands immediately left his face, almost reserving it for the cold touch he knew couldn't make him feel any better.

"I am dead, and you will die. You have a wife and child, and I have my tree and my brother. When this is all done, we'll be sipping lemonade and enjoying hot days. Until then, I need you to give your son someone to look up to. I couldn't bear it if the kid turned out like me. Or worse, you." Kaname didn't laugh, but Zero's caustic smugness was at the very least enough to get him breathing normally. Death almost sighed; Kaname was fully visible through the cocoon, but it was only being kept at bay while they had their moment. Zero stroked his cheek and touched their foreheads together, sighing sharply,

"I'll not have you regretting not treating your family right when you're on your own deathbed. It's not a fun thing to do." Kaname brightened very much, startled in a way by Zero's straightforwardness. He nodded, but tendrils still tugged at his legs until his entire body felt leaden with dread. Zero saw it all, but didn't say anything. He merely grasped Kaname's warm hand for a moment, feeling that small, painful spark of life, and then let go. He turned and walked down the hall to the stairwell. Kaname didn't stir, but the anguish held him close in Zero's place. The door opened, and a body went through, hip hitting the door frame like usual, but without the following curse, which made the scene all the lonelier. At last, only a foot and calf were visible through the doorway, the small flutter of a hospital gown, and then the door closed, and Kaname couldn't help it as the last of his paralysis wore off, and the sign made in his mouth with the sickening taste of dead blood sobered him. Zero had tricked him, and he hadn't even known it. They had both been trying to escape something, that moment: Zero had just made a better show of it. And Kaname hated him for that.

Death looked uneasily at the man holding his head in his hands, wanting to hide behind the pillar in case some of the sorrow decided to seep out and look around for another host. Kaname looked up for a moment, rubbing his face and waiting for his eyes to lose their redness before he went back to his wife's room. Death swore the man had seen it, but nothing in its book told it that that was possible. Then, as eyelash barriers readied themselves to be broken, the man sprinted from his spot and down the hallway, chasing a ghost while another stood behind him, watching with company the pathetic show of a man recently introduced to mortality. Death stood straight, looking quizzically at the two brothers smirking in the brunette's dust A glimmering string followed Kaname from Zero's mouth, almost looking like the after-kiss wire always suspended between them.

"There's no chance he's having happiness without you, you cruel, unhappy bastard,"

"He can handle himself."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll prosper," Ichiru's smirk was cruel, "And you'll get to play with your godson, just like you'd planned," Zero smiled, his brother leaning on him casually, picking at his nails with a slow smile that had become well-adjusted on a face that wouldn't change much more,

"'T's not like a kid needs a babysitter forever. Plus," he said, turning to an identical face that less that mirrored his own insecurities (he wasn't as accustomed to being so out-of-the-picture,) "There's a fair chance he'll fight it as stubbornly and strongly as everything else." Ichiru looked at him oddly, leaning over a bit to inspect his brother's face,

"Careful, brother; sounds like someone's getting cynical already," Zero made a tired face, then asked Death, rather pointedly as he trudged off,

"Do you want some lemonade?"

-

Originally, there was going to be something about Zero daydreaming about Ichiru, but I figure I'll save that bit for [another] rainy day.


End file.
